Review Summary: Lamb of God are back with a vengeance.
I’ve always had a huge soft spot for Lamb of God. They're a band that was instrumental in helping me get into extreme metal, and metal as a whole, when I was a young kid. Their pure energy matched with Randy's unhinged vocals just always hit a nerve with me and helped me grow to appreciate genres such as metalcore, thrash and death metal. That being said, I was extremely excited when it was announced they would be releasing their tenth full-length album,
Into Oblivion, in 2026. And you know what folks? It might just be their best album to date.
This album displays Lamb of God on their game to the highest degree. It's groovy as hell and as brutal as a four-ton truck hitting you at 100 miles per hour. As soon as you hit play on the title track and that first riff from Mark blasts you, you know you're in for one hell of a treat. You'll notice right away that the guys opted to bring back some of the deathcore influences that were present on the first few albums, and boys and girls, that was a great choice. Other tracks like 'Sepsis', 'The Killing Floor', 'Blunt Force Blues' and 'Bully' follow the same trend, hammering you with well-timed breakdowns, pounding drums and Randy's phlegmy snarls and growls.
That doesn't mean that the groovy side of the band is gone though. The guys still know how to make those Southern-influenced bangers with tasty riffs and more subdued vocals. Tracks like 'El Vacio', 'St. Catherine's Wheel', 'A Thousand Years' and 'Devise/Destroy' are more melodic, thrashy and riff-centric as opposed to the pure beatdown of every other track. Randy experiments with more natural hardcore-esque shouting and even some softer singing briefly as opposed to the nasty gutturals of other tracks. This works in the band's favor purely from a variety standpoint while never sacrificing the flow of the album.
Man, I can't even begin to express how impressed I am with
Into Oblivion. The fact that they still sound so visceral 32 years into their career is incredibly impressive, not to mention that this could very well be their best, most cohesive album to date.
Into Oblivion is an album that shows off all the best qualities of Lamb of God and puts them all into one place. The boys are still going like a well-oiled machine and this album is just further proof of that.
